A music video of a song by Lawrence Njuguna popularly known by his stage name DJ Fatxo, in which he featured the late Jeff Mwathi went viral on Wednesday, March 22.
In the clip shared on Tiktok by a user, Mururi TV, photos of Mwathi when alive, and photos of his mother weeping during his funeral appeared intermittently as the benga musician sang in the background.
According to Kenyans.co.ke reports, established that the clip was a doctored version of a music video released by the benga artist.
A reverse search led to DJ Fatxo’s YouTube page. The music video was for the song ‘Nindetikira’ which translates to ‘I accept’.
‘Nindetikira’ was released on August 13, 2021, following the death of his grandmother. Originally a 5-minute video, those behind the manipulation used the part between minutes 2.50 and 3.30.
While the audio was maintained, the photos were added on top of the already existing video to create an impression that the song was about the deceased.
I do not understand Kikuyu but this is supposed to be DJ FatXo tribute to Jeff Mwathi, what are your thoughts? pic.twitter.com/W36SkG5mhX
— BelindaM (@KMochura) March 22, 2023
Japheth Kaimenyi, a specialist videographer confirmed that the feature is known as image overlaying is a basic function available on video-editing software such as Adobe Premier Pro.
“They used an existing clip and placed the images above and used the slideshow effect. It can be done by anyone with basic video editing skills,” Kaimenyi confirmed.
The maintained lyrics depicted a dejected DJ Fatxo, who mourned over the loss of the life of someone very close to him.
“If I knew you’d sleep and not wake up, I would have begged God not to take you. But since there is no chance that you will ever come back, rest in peace, we are behind you coming,”
“I beg you God to heal my heart as you did to Rachel. I accept your will even though it was not how I would have liked things to happen,” the musician sang.
On March 21, Members of Parliament from Kiambu County protested the delay in investigations into Mwathi’s death. They particularly demanded the arrest of six individuals who last seen with the 22-year-old.
“We have seen the people who were with Jeff that day going online trying to brainwash people yet the case is active,” Thika Town MP Alice Ng’ang’a stated.
